HopeLess
by Bring on the Boom
Summary: As Rukia Kuchiki is sent to investigate a situation involving the quincy, Bambietta Basterbine begins to realize that old memories seldom fade... and bad habits die hard.


**Disclaimer: Bleach and all its characters belong to Shonen Jump.**

* * *

There was little rest for those in the afterlife. Despite common misconceptions or belief system, it was not a realm of peace or tranquility. From the chaos of the old world had come multiple realms, all of them nothing more than a new form of chaos masquerading as order.

This tenuous order was personified by the shinigami, the very same self-titled gods of death who had reforged the worlds to their liking. Two of them now were meeting within the Soul Society. One was the newly crowned captain commander of the Gotei 13, Shunsui Kyoraku, having taken on the mantle after the passing of the man who had taught him everything he had known. The other was a woman caught in a transient position of ascendance. She was Vice-Captain Rukia Kuchiki of the Thirteenth Division. Her captain had perished in recent times as well and she had found herself fulfilling his role in everything but the title.

"You wished to see me?" Rukia asked as she took to one knee before the seated captain commander.

"I am glad to see you alive and well, Vice Captain Kuchiki," Shunsui simply said. "Never had I imagined a noblemen of one of the great houses of the Soul Society would cause such calamities both here and in the mortal world."

"These have been trying times," Rukia replied in return. Traitorous captains, mortals whose bloodlines had been stained by the hollows, the Wandenreich having emerged from the shadows... Now Tokinada of the Tsunayashiro clan had disrupted the peace. "But we will ever move forward."

"Ever the optimist," Shunsui spoke. "I suppose Jushiro has that effect on people."

"I miss him," Rukia said rather suddenly.

Shunsui was quiet for a moment, his head lowering as he closed his one good eye. "I do as well."

A silence fell upon the two whose only bond was through the dearly departed Jushiro Ukitake. Soon, however, it passed.

"You are aware of the quincies who were a part of the battle against Tokinada's forces, yes?" Shunsui asked.

"Yes," Rukia answered. "Former Stern Ritter who survived the war and... Captain Kurotsuchi's undead experiments."

"You sound disgusted," Shunsui interjected, noting exactly what kind of tone of voice had suddenly overtaken Rukia's.

"We are meant to govern the living and the dead," Rukia explained. "Not pervert and bend them to our will beyond their natural passing. The arrancar, at most, should have been purified with zanpakuto and the quincies-"

"Captain Kurotsuchi is a war hero," Shunsui interrupted, "and in turn his division been granted certain leniencies."

"But-"

"That's enough," Shunsui interrupted once again, though he managed to keep his voice soft. "Vice Captain Kuchiki, I did bring you here to speak of the morality present within our captains."

"My apologies," Rukia whispered, her head lowering. "I did not mean to speak ill of a captain."

"There may well be a time and place for that," Shunsui offered up, his voice a melancholy one. "If not today, then perhaps in the near future. Or merely one hundred years from the war's end. Who can say?"

Once more there was silence, Rukia feeling more than a little uncomfortable. Much to her relief, however, Shunsui put an end to it quickly.

"I called you before me to perform a task. One I feel you are best suited for."

Rukia looked up at her commanding officer and nodded.

"Jushiro always spoke of you as one of the fairest shinigami he knew," Shunsui continued. "And I believe he spoke the truth. You brought yourself up from the Rukon District to the position of a vice captain not through simple power and skill but through the purity of your vision of what being a shinigami should mean. That is why I feel it would be the best for you to take on this mission."

"What... is it?" Rukia asked nervously.

"The former Stern Ritter who assisted in the battle against Tokinada were allowed free to go," Shunsui answered. "As thanks, we returned to them two of their comrades who had been brought back to life by Captain Kurotsuchi. However... reports have been coming in from the Western Branch of five quincies in their territory. They asked that a shinigami resolve the matter as there have been a string of grisly murders, ranging from humans to dragons to hollows alike. The latter places the balance of the worlds at risk as you know."

Rukia flinched. "You... you want me to-"

"They have been both ally and enemy to the Gotei 13. They prevented catastrophe but nearly caused one themselves. The Wandenreich took... took from us Jushiro." Shunsui took a deep breath. "Because of that I will not give you any orders beyond heading to their location. Whether you are a saint of salvation or an angel of vengeance will be entirely within your choosing."

* * *

Bambietta Basterbine was a broken soul. Laying down on a bed, her head resting atop the lap of one she recognized as her best friend despite her scattered thoughts, she was relaxing comfortably. Giselle Gewelle was gently stroking her fingers through Bambietta's dark hair, whispering to her sweetly.

It was all it took to move Bambietta past the sea of anxiety that threatened to overwhelm her at any given moment. At a moment's notice could she go from docile and relaxed to violent. That, at least, was a controlled response, either by herself or her friend. However, if her strained psyche were to be pushed too far by the strange shapes of fleeting memories, she could be rendered a quivering mess, a timid young girl overwhelmed by memories of a vengeful immortal who had cast aside all he held dear.

Now was one of those times.

"It's okay, Bambi," Giselle whispered as she lovingly stroked her hair. "Everything's going to be fine, I promise."

Giselle had considered for a moment if she had made the right call a week earlier. During the battles with the shinigami, she had broken Bambietta in a way she had not intended. Snap judgments spawned from being denied what was she felt was hers tended to provoke such things. How was she supposed to know that bashing somebody's skull against the ground repeatedly could cause brain damage? It was not her fault that the person who she loved and adored was so brittle!

Regardless, after six months Giselle had been convinced to use a wonderfully rich source of blood to restore Bambietta to her normal state. Liltotto Lamperd had said it was only fair, as they had managed to retrieve both Meninas McAllon and Candice Catnipp. If they were to have a proper reunion then they needed to be together and whole. Why, Giselle could remember Liltotto even telling her to restore Bambietta's psyche back to full health, not the slightly broken shell she had used in combat against the shinigami. Giselle had no earthly idea what Liltotto had been talking about but she did it anyway.

There had been some worry on Liltotto's part of Bambietta's memories returning, though Giselle had been unsure why she had been worried about Bambietta remembering how they had saved her from the big bad Captain Sajin Komamura. As fate would have it, however, Bambietta's half-year long bout of brain damage had seemingly butchered her memories. Any thoughts past her battle with the shinigami captain seemed to be nonexistent.

However, when they had been hanging out in the mortal world, their bodies once again made flesh, the four quincies had realized their mistake. Bambietta was just as she always was, the annoyance in the metaphorical room that was incapable of reading the mood. Sure, that made it easier for the four she considered her underlings and friends to do as they pleased, especially now, but it could be an irritant to Liltotto, Candice and Meninas. Only Giselle was willing to tolerate the friend nobody truly wanted. After all, she was the exception to the rule. She wanted Bambietta on every imaginable level.

It just had to be on her terms.

So she had taken from Bambietta the gift she had been given, the newly given blood taken from her. Now Bambietta was once again a shell of her former self but Giselle adored her all the same. Still, she desired to return her to her full glory once again.

Laying down behind Bambietta, Giselle wrapped her arms around her, and began to whisper sweet little nothings into her ear.

"Can you believe it? Today's the anniversary of when we first met, Bambi. When his majesty introduced us to each other. Were you as smitten as I was back then?"

Giselle giggled. Bambietta, meanwhile, talked slowly.

"Gigi... you're my... best friend..."

"Darn straight," Giselle whispered in return. "And don't you ever forget it."

Giselle knew that much, at least, would never leave Bambietta's mind. She would never allow it to do so. If she had to remind her each and every hour of each and every day, then so be it. However, today was a special day. While Liltotto and the others had considered what they had done to Bambietta seven days prior a blessing for both themselves and the world, the normally volatile quincy having spoken of decimating a country to better take it over, Giselle had convinced them to round up some blood for her. Having holed themselves up in an abandoned farmhouse, the couple who had lived their having met an unfortunate fate after having invited five travelers in from the rain, they had traveled far to the nearest town to collect some victims unwilling to donate to a charitable blood drive of sorts.

All it had taken was for Giselle to promise to restore Bambietta back to this docile form if she was thinking bad thoughts to make the others agree. After all, forget the world, they could not risk the shinigami coming after them for any overt destruction caused by their fellow former Stern Ritter's stupidity.

"You'll be good as new once we get some nice red stuff in you, Bambi," Giselle cooed. "And then you and me can... commemorate this anniversary."

Giselle paused for a moment. Then, slowly, did her hands begin to move down towards the white shorts Bambietta was wearing, her fingers fumbling for the drawstring so as to loosen it.

"But... I can't wait."

"G-Gigi, wait..." Bambietta whimpered. "Don't..."

Giselle's overexcited face began to shift, her eyes narrowing into slits as her smile turned upside down. "What... was... that?"

For the last six months Giselle had been on her best behavior, Liltotto having had made it a point that she needed to be nicer, if not for Bambietta's own sake than for Liltotto's own. But now, while the overbearing cat was away, the mouse could play.

Giselle's hands moved away from Bambietta's waist. Soon one of them came to her towards her face. Fingernails dug into flesh, drawing blood right beneath Bambietta's cheek. In the position she was in, Giselle could not simply bash her head into something. No, this required something quicker.

Bambietta screamed as nails dragged deeply up her face, carving Giselle's mark into her.

"Shh..." Giselle whispered. "It's cute and all, but.. shh... I mean, you made me do it, you bad girl you."

"I'm s-sorry! I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Bambietta cried out, hands moving up towards her face. "I... I didn't mean to make you upset!"

"It's okay," Giselle whispered, her hands, one bloody set of nails and all, moving back towards Bambietta's shorts. "As always, I forgive you, Bambi."

As Giselle very nearly began to undue the drawstring on Bambietta's shorts, the door to the room opened up. Standing there were Liltotto, Candice and Meninas, a corpse clearly held over the shoulders of the latter.

"Gigi," Liltotto asked calmly. "What did you do to that stupid bitch?"

"She was being naughty," Giselle whimpered, feeling a little sheepish, "so I had to stop being nice."

Liltotto sighed. "Do you have any idea how annoying it was hear her scream out in the hall?"

"And after all the trouble we went through to get you a good corpse for this," Candice hissed. "You know how many people we had to kill to find the proper blood type? And one of the damn corpses had the nerve to get their blood in my hair!"

"Like that's the worst bodily fluid to ever get in your hair, Candi," Liltotto snarked. "Besides, does it matter? You look like hell with all those stitches that shinigami brought you back with anyway."

"Heh, silly stitches," Meninas giggled as she set the corpse down on the bed beside Giselle and Bambietta.

"Whatever!" Candice shrugged, paying no attention to Meninas' apparently obliviousness to her own stitched up form. "Better to be resurrected looking like this than be one of Gigi's puppets!"

"Hey," Giselle whimpered. "Bambi's even more adorbs now..."

"You want to fix her up, go ahead," Liltotto said as she and the others exited the room. "Up to you. But if she acts up, it's on your shoulders. You're the only one who wants her here, Gigi."

The door closing, Giselle got up from the bed. She took hold of the corpse's arm and unceremoniously dragged it over to the bed. Throwing it up beside Bambietta, she hopped up with them both.

"Don't worry, Bambi. I'll keep you around forever and ever..."

* * *

In time the operation was a success, Giselle having worked her schrift to its fullest potential. The blood had slowly but surely been extracted from the corpse that had once belonged to a man she did not even care to know the name of, having then been injected into Bambietta the only way Giselle knew how. She had bit into the corpse, drawing blood from its soon to be decaying form. Once she had taken in a mouthful, she had given Bambietta a kiss, spitting it down her throat. Again and again she had gone through the process until one corpse was a dried husk, the other healing itself of all injuries.

For Bambietta it was as close to living as she could get. For Giselle it was simply first base. But what the latter really wanted was to go for a home run.

Bambietta began to come to then. "What...?"

Sitting up from the bed, she looked about.

"Gigi? Where... am I?" Bambietta shook her head. "I was... talking about conquering a country and then-"

"Oh, Bambi!" Giselle suddenly hugged her. "Your fight with that mean ol' shinigami really messed with your head! But don't worry! I got you all better again!"

As always, Bambietta was a terrible judge of character or the mood. She returned the hug.

"Th-Thank you..." Bambietta said, her mind slowly reorganizing itself back into proper working order. "I don't know what I'd do without you or the others. Lil, Candi, Meni..."

Bambietta coughed then, the quincy feeling a horrible tingle and taste in her throat, sore as it was suddenly feeling.

"Is something wrong, Bambi?" Giselle asked.

Bambietta rubbed the front of her neck. "Th-Think I just need some water," she gasped, her voice cracking.

Giselle sat up from the bed in the blink of an eye. "Of course! Anything you want!"

She was gone then, a step taking out of the room in a flash. So quick had it been that the door had swung itself shut thanks to the momentum the quincy had generated.

Bambietta sat there then, looking at the dried corpse she shared a bed with. Closing her eyes, she shifted her position on the mattress and sheets, moving towards the edge furthest from it. Then she grit her teeth, eyelid scrunching as she felt a blinding flash of light eclipse her very mind.

"What... the...?" Bambietta shook her head, feeling it in pain. This was different from her last regeneration. Something was... wrong? Right? She was not sure. Last time Giselle had used the spilt, drying blood of a man. This time it was fresher, still housed in an intact body. Was that why this was so different?

Bambietta could not give it thought for much longer, her mind ablaze as her body began to feel. Her skull throbbed with pain, the world around her seemingly spinning out of control. However, whatever perception she had of an unstable world was a far cry from how unstable her thoughts were.

Memories were swirling through them, a vast ocean of that which had once been held behind a dam. Now had the structure burst, as if it had been weakened with the repairs of Bambietta's mind. Memories flooded her as they released.

Her battle with Komamura was as sharp as any blade.

Then there were her friends coming to save ... one of them would miss her.

Then... pain. Agony. Trauma.

Death.

And life. A broken life but life nonetheless. Splintered desires of the dead wanting to live. Fighting. Weakness. Humiliation. Being used.

Abused in the name of love.

It was all back. Every moment, every second. All of it had come back to Bambietta in a whirlpool of unrelenting truth. And it was enough to make the quincy laugh.

It was quiet and soft, but as she sat on the edge of both the bed and sanity itself, she looked down at the floor. Her shoulders rose and fell with each chuckle, though her eyes began to water. Growing angry with herself, she wiped an arm across her eyes, removing any tears.

"His majesty betrayed us."

That was a simple truth Bambietta had figured out back in town when she spoke with her friends before... they had taken from her any sense of self and control once again. She had accepted that readily enough. The moment that Uryu Ishida had been allowed in within the ranks of the Wandenreich had she worried about the organization's future. It had been clear to her when the others had told her of Yhwach's treachery that Uryu had not been the one she should have worried about. It had been Yhwach himself. If not for the grace and foresight of Jugram Haschalth, nothing would have remained.

If the grandmaster himself were alive now, Bambietta was unsure of whether she would thank him or spit in his face. Because he had saved others, those who had betrayed Bambietta on a much more personal level than Yhwach himself could have hoped to. He was had been a god emperor to Bambietta, yes, but these were friends. People she had loved.

Only those she had cherished could hurt her as much as they had managed.

Bambietta knew she was bound to one of them now. To seek out her revenge would cost her dearly. It would take from her all she had left. All she could consider for salvation was the help of one Yhwach had once spoke of as a being who had the power to step on the toes of a god. One who could reject death itself.

But no, that was a lost cause. Bambietta knew well of the Wandenreich's research into those who could be a threat. Orihime Inoue could very well have been a sixth war potential if but she rose above all limitations. Her powers were amazing but time was something they could not stand against. Six months... It was simply too long a time for her power to raise the dead.

Even that avenue had been denied Bambietta. No amount of hope remained. All that was left to her was revenge. And it would require her to give up what was left of her life.

"I get it." Bambietta laughed, this time without tears. "I think I finally understand you, Captain Doggie."

* * *

Vice Captain Rukia Kuchiki found herself on the outskirts of a quiet farmhouse in the countryside. This was the first time she had ventured outside of Japan while visiting the mortal world and, to be honest, she wished it had been under better circumstances. Looking over the bright green fields that stretched as far as the eye could see, it was as beautiful as it was breathtaking.

She could see herself enjoying a simple life here, yet she knew this was not the time or the place to ever consider such things. The Western Branch had informed of the the captain commander of what appeared to be the work of volatile quincies in the area and, after much legwork, she had found this to be the most likely location for them. Having donned a gigai to move throughout the town as a curious tourist, something that was not entirely far from the truth, she had discovered that the family that called this farmhouse home had not been seen for some time. An oddity, as many in town knew them quite well, as if they made frequent weekend expeditions away from their secluded home. Some of the local residents had worried that they were the the victims of the recent string of murders.

Rukia was as well, though for different reasons. Someone may well have desired their home for their own.

Rukia moved in slow and steady, her right hand holding the the grip of the zanpakuto sheathed at her waist tightly. If this was the work of five quincies, ones who had once terrorized the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo both as Stern Ritter, she would would be prepared for battle. The reports of that had been filed in light of the Tokinada incident had implied that their powers had been potentially halved in light of the betrayal of their god emperor, but Rukia was not inclined to take any chances. Her shikai and bankai both could end this in an instant.

Still, she wanted to believe that this was all simply a situation that could resolved peacefully. She wanted to think so at least. Perhaps mistakes in the report had been made. Perhaps this was all the work of hollows or the western dragons. Perhaps infighting between the two even. Or she could simply talk down the quincies.

Being the only enlisted shinigami to have a bond with two quincies was enough to make her second guess herself, at least after all the atrocities that they had been subjected to as a whole. She had to wonder if this was the true reason that the captain commander had chosen her. No doubt the Central Forty-Six or even the Royal Guard had passed this situation down to him and he, in turn, had found a way to work out in a manner they had not expected.

If so, it added credence to Rukia's assessment that he was a captain commander who knew how to subtlely bend the rules to find a better option.

As Rukia drew closer, she gasped. Details were coming into view... and the farmhouse was a wreck. Not as if it appeared that it had not been kept up with in light of its missing potentially missing owners. No, it looked as if it had been laid waste to by a natural disaster.

The roof was caved in, holes blown through wall after wall. So much so that Rukia could see even craters in the ground. Even the barn on the other end of the property had collapsed upon itself. The only thing that appeared to remain standing was the fence that encircled it all, as if it was a barrier that contained the devastation that lay before her.

However, that was not all. Rukia could see... bodies. Three in total. Even from a distance she could recognize them. Their clothing was different, the military theme gone for pure casual. The myriad number of various oddities of hair color, from cotton candy pink to pale lime green, however, was enough to make it clear that these were some of the Stern Ritter she and the other shinigami had fought for the sake of Ichigo Kurosaki's advancement against Yhwach. One of them, even, was a quincy that Rukia recognized as having assisted the shinigami in invading the Royal Realm to face down their former god emperor.

Rukia felt her stomach churn then, the forms of the quincies torn asunder. What was left of them looked like the work of an inhuman monster, as if a hollow or even a dragon had wreaked upon them an abhorrent end. Rukia's right hand moved away from her zanpakuto, instead clutching around her mouth as if to keep herself from vomiting at the sight of it all.

It was no use. Rukia had not seen a massacre like this in her lifetime, not even when the hollow known as Metastacia had rampaged through the Soul Society. She fell to her knees and wretched then and there. The deed done, she took several deep breaths and readied herself. Standing, she tried to remain composed and moved in closer towards the farmhouse and the quincies' remains.

Still, at the back of her mind, she recalled there had been other quincies who had assisted in the journey to the Royal Realm. One had been found dead after the battle, the very same quincy who had previously fought Rukia and Renji Abarai both. The blonde one had vanished, never to be seen until now. But there had been another. One that Rukia had fought and lost to during the first invasion instigated by the Wandenreich. Where was she? That was a question Rukia was worried about. Perhaps this was her handiwork, Rukia remembering that the Stern Ritter had fought amongst themselves with brutal results back in the Soul Society.

Rukia prepared herself to fight that quincy again, knowing that this time she would win without fail. She began to use the thumb of her left hand, the one holding her sheath tightly, to flick Sode no Shirayuki out from its scabbard...

Then Rukia stopped. She saw that quincy then, or at least part of her. Another quincy was stepping outside of the farmhouse, the head of the one Rukia recognized dangling by the hair from her right hand. Something looked off about the one stepping outside, as if she was the walking dead. To speak nothing of the glowing halo and pair of wings she possessed...

"What... happened here?"

* * *

Bambietta was never one to properly read a room's mood, she understood that much now more than ever. She had thought she had friends. She knew now that she had been wrong. If she had been quicker on the uptake things would have worked out much, much differently.

Regardless, she was not terribly good at reading the mood when it came to people's opinions of her or their intentions for her. She understood that now and that was that. Lesson learned. It was a done deal. However, she did know what she was good at when it came to reading specific situations at least.

She knew her way through combat. Oh, she was always ready and willing to throw herself into the thick of it, that much was certain. But she knew when the odds were against her. Not when she was actually in the thick of things. Adapting on the fly... was not a strong suite. But, when she was ably to keep her distance and plan things out ahead of time... ah, that was a different matter all together.

She had known her powers were not up to snuff when it came to the prospect of snuffing out the Iscariots in her midst. Being reborn under the power of the Zombie had affected her in truly negative ways. She had been rendered slower, her movements sluggish and her reaction times butchered. From what she had recalled in a previous scuffle against an opponent she had no right to have lost to, the form of zombification that was employed by the shinigami with the garish attire was different from Giselle's own. Candice and Meninas would not have lost any part of their physical prowess, not like she had.

Oh, Bambietta had wondered to herself at the time if the fact that a damned shinigami's abilities surpassed Giselle's own had irritated her. How she had hoped so. How she had hoped it had kept Giselle up late at one lonely nights!

Bambietta had known, however, that she had had one advantage over the others. She had remembered Liltotto discussing how she and Giselle had lost access to their vollstandigs thanks to Yhwach's betrayal, his attempt at stealing back the powers he had granted them a partial success. Candice and Meninas were no different. Bambietta, on the other hand, had been considered deceased at the time. However it worked, she had been a pawn of Giselle's then, not Yhwach's, and had gone completely under his radar.

The biggest problem of course had been Giselle. The blood in Bambietta's body was not hers or Giselle's, no, but it was still under Giselle's control. The blood and her body. However, such power did not belong to Giselle's voice. Words had no sway upon Bambietta as long as she was been herself, as long as she was sound in mind and spirit.

Still, Bambietta had known that if she had killed Giselle, that would be it. Their lives were linked and hers forfeit if she were to extinguish the other. To kill Giselle would have been suicide. That had been fine with Bambietta in the heat of the moment, sure, but it would have to wait until all was complete in her eyes.

Giselle had to be the first to be incapacitated but the last to die.

So Bambietta had waited until Giselle had returned to the room with her water. Quick and fast, she had separated Giselle's head from her shoulders with a simple strike of her spirit weapon, a short sword formed from her quincy cross. She had taken with her then both the unknown corpse and Giselle's body, leaving the still talking head behind, Giselle's confusion having been left behind a closed door. Then Bambietta had slowly headed out to find the others. Sure enough, they had been together in a room watching a movie. It had been an action packed one, full of violence and explosions. At least that was what it had sounded like. Bambietta's vision was more than fine for combat and daily life, but she had issues with being near sighted.

Liltotto had been the next greatest danger. She was the smart one, the crafty one. So Bambietta had been quick to throw both Giselle's body and the unknown corpse at her. Both had been rigged with the Explode and detonated immediately behind her as she sat in the recliner. It had been enough to at least drop her for a time.

Then there had been Meninas, the strong one. Her schrift was the Power, an ability Bambietta had wanted nothing to do with in close combat, then or ever. Then there had been Candice. Candice was... Candice.

Bambietta had gone into her vollstandig form then, launching a volley of explosive reishi at Meninas to bring her down. Then she and Candice had begun to brawl. Bambietta's assumption had been proven right then and there. Candice was faster naturally... but the boost in power from the vollstandig had more than closed the distance between them both.

In the end had Bambietta stood triumphant. With Candice done for, she had returned to finish off Meninas and Liltotto. Their bodies had been left outside altogether. After that, all that had been left was Giselle.

"Bambi, what's the matter with you?" Giselle asked. "Come on, wherever you hid my body, bring it back to me! I need to be good as new! Or else I'll-"

Giselle stopped herself, waiting for Bambietta to say something, anything. Perhaps simply asking Giselle if she was going to bite Bambietta's kneecaps off. After all, that did sound kinky and fun to the former Stern Ritter Z.

But there was nothing. Bambietta did not say a single word. Deep down it annoyed her that Giselle was still talking to her in this state. She knew she could survive much, Giselle having managed to find the means to heal herself both after being impaled through the heart and having taken a head shot from Yhwach himself. Ridiculous, as both should have killed her instantly, but Bambietta knew just how potent her regeneration was. Still, it made no sense how she was breathing, let alone talking, without lungs!

Still, Bambietta kept herself dispassionate. Without a hint of true irritation, she tossed Giselle's head forward, letting go of her hair. It happened so fast then, Giselle's head going into a spin, that she did not even see what was around her. All she could do was cry out in surprise.

"H-Hey now!" However, when her head hit the ground, she did see. Oh, how she did. "Lil? Meni? Candi?"

"All dead." Bambietta's voice was quiet. Giselle glanced to the side, looking up... and saw Bambietta looking down at her with a cold, lifeless expression. In that moment Giselle felt no different than any man Bambietta had invited to her room.

So much for a home room. That was a thought that went through her head then, a sign of Giselle's priorities.

"Do you know why you're not dead?" Bambietta asked. "Yet?"

Giselle was honest, at least with herself. "You'd miss me, Bambi?"

"I never miss." Bambietta, too, was honest.

In that moment, Giselle realized that Bambietta was truly serious. "You can't do this, Bambi! We're... I'm... I'm all you've got!"

"Then.." Bambietta said, taking a breath to steady her exploding nerves deep within. "Then I truly have never had anything."

"No!" Giselle screamed. "Don't do this! You'll die with me! I'll die! B-Bambi, please!"

Bambietta ignored her. This was not up for debate. She began to draw on her powers, arms folding in over her chest, her wings doing the same. She had done this many times before, to draw on all the power of the Explode to destroy the environment all around her. She had done it recently in the Soul Society, allowing her rage to consume her.

Now, however, it was proving hard. She was angry, yes, but... the greatest emotion she was wearing on her sleeves now was despair. These were her friends. Friends who had betrayed her. And yet... she had to do this. She had to! She-

"What's going on?"

Bambietta opened her eyes then, an unfamiliar voice catching her attention. In that moment did the angel of death find herself face to face with a god of death. Looking at Vice Captain Rukia Kuchiki, Bambietta Basterbine's expression of clear and total despair began to crack... her eyes lighting up with insane glee, her lips curling back into a wicked smile, her body begging for more violence.

This was an enemy she was meant to fight! Not the friends who had betrayed her but the monsters who ruled the world through their lies!

Then it was gone as quickly as it passed, Bambietta's lust for battle doing something it never had before on its own.

It fell away.

"I'm killing my last remaining friend," Bambietta replied earnestly, her voice as dispassionate as her face had become once again. "Not that I ever really had any."

Rukia was more than a little concerned, especially now. That was why she had approached the situation with flash step with her zanpakuto on the verge of being drawn. From the slight concern that now seized her heart, Rukia inadvertently rattled her blade within its sheath.

"Please do if you want," Bambietta whispered, not paying Rukia any mind. "I don't have anything to live for anyway. But... it won't be the real end of me. She goes and then I go for keeps."

"You're insane, Bambi!" Giselle suddenly screamed.

"That's rich coming from you," Bambietta shot back coldly. "But you're right. Even more so now."

"I won't let you die!" Giselle screamed next.

"Even richer," Bambietta hissed. "I'm dead already because of you."

Rukia had never expected to find herself caught between a debate between a veritable angel and a decapitated head yet here she was. Against her better judgment, she let go of her zanpakuto. "I'm willing to listen."

"There's nothing to talk about!" Bambietta said, turning her back on Rukia. "You're my enemy."

"I don't see you attacking me," Rukia replied matter-of-factly.

"You're a real smart ass, you know that?" Bambietta clicked her tongue, her eyes closing. She undid her vollstandig, feeling no threat to herself at the moment, then looked back at Rukia. "You know what it's like to have a friend betray you?"

Rukia began to answer. "I-"

"No, of course you haven't," Bambietta interrupted, the quincy letting the shinigami know full well of the extensive reconnaissance the Wandenreich had done to the Soul Society in the last thousand years. "You re Rukia Kuchiki of an esteemed royal family. And a vice captain! Of course no one would betray you! Not really! Even when the higher ups threw you to the wolves, you had friends come to save you! And I..."

"I saved you!" Giselle cried out. "Because I love-"

"That's not love!" Bambietta screamed as she turned to look at Giselle, her temper finally, truly unleashed. "You don't know the first damn thing about love and don't you dare pretend you do!"

That was enough to finally leave Giselle speechless but Bambietta did not stop.

"If any of you really loved me like a friend you wouldn't have abandoned me in the war! If any of those three actually loved me they wouldn't have you do what you did! You wouldn't have turned me into... into... this! You could have healed me with your powers! Instead you did this!"

"His majesty would have killed you for being defeated!" Giselle shouted. "I couldn't-"

"And how would this have helped?" Bambietta interrupted. "He would have killed me all the same! All he'd have to do is keep you away from me and I couldn't be brought back to be your bitch for another round! This didn't make anything better! If you really loved me... if you truly loved me... you would have let me die!"

Bambietta turned away.

"But you're no better than the rest of them. I fooled myself into thinking I had friends. You tricked yourself into thinking you loved me. Just like... like..."

Bambietta paused.

"Just like I pretended to love all those guys... so I could kill them to vent."

Bambietta began to laugh then, though her voice was cracking with sobbing. It was enough to put Rukia on edge, the shinigami slowly moving a hand back to her zanpakuto. This situation was... worrisome to say the least.

"What a joke!" Bambietta screamed. "Every damn thing is a demented gag! The shinigami in charge lie to to keep everyone under their thumb! Yhwach lies to us all! I lie to people about loving them so I can kill them and you... you, you damn incorrigible little bitch... you lie to me and yourself about loving me so you can excuse away killing me! It's all just so damn funny! I'm not your bitch! No, I'm karma's bitch! And rightfully so!"

Bambietta's maddening laughter slowly began to die down then, tears streaming from her eyes as she looked at Giselle and the others. "What have we all done to ourselves?"

Rukia tried to see a light at the end of the tunnel. "It's not too late. I have a..."

Rukia almost said the word friend, the shinigami thinking better of it under the circumstances.

"Orihime could fix this."

"You really mean it, don't you?" Bambietta shook her head, her tears glistening in the morning light. "Fix this... but not me."

Rukia was taken aback. "I-"

"This..." Bambietta said, looking at the remains of her fellow quincies. "This is recent. Sure she could reject this. But me? I'm long since past my expiration date. Six... six months even. The Wandenreich knows all about her powers. If she didn't have limits, someone who like her would have been a special war potential. But even she can't fight time. Surely you all know this or she'd be bringing back everyone the Soul Society lost in the war. Maybe even before that."

Rukia knew she was right, the shinigami having spoken out of turn. She had been caught up in the moment, allowing herself to be blinded by the miracle of Orihime's powers. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. I already gave this false hope some consideration." Bambietta shook her her head slightly, unsure of what was possessing her to say what she did next. "But I appreciate the consideration. If every shinigami was like you, we all wouldn't be in situations like this."

Rukia tried to return the compliment, even if it was untrue. "And if every quincy was like you-"

"The war would have been raging for the last thousand years without a seconds rest," Bambietta finished, not willing to accept false praise. "Now stand aside."

"What?" Rukia was once again taken back. "What are you-?"

Bambietta once more activated her vollstandig, wings of light and madness extending out afar from her back, a broken crown of a halo coming into existence over her head. "Move or die with us. I'm not stopping this time."

Giselle was afraid once more. "B-Bambi..."

"I'm not letting this happen!" Rukia shouted, withdrawing Sode no Shirayuki at last, the shinigami prepared to invoke shikai or bankai or whatever it would take to bring this situation to a close.

"I thought you cared, shinigami," Bambietta said, looking over her shoulder. "Let me die... on my own terms."

"This..." Rukia was left reeling. She felt her arms drop to her sides, her grip on her zanpakuto loosening a bit. "This is for your pride."

Bambietta said nothing in return.

"After my captain died... I just... wanted to save someone. Anyone."

This time Bambietta replied, unable to do anything less. "Not all of us get happy endings."

Rukia closed her eyes, sheathing Sode no Shirayuki. Then, with a heavy heart, she was gone in a flash.

Bambietta was unsure of why she had allowed herself to care even the slightest about the vice captain. She should have been overjoyed to take out at least one last shinigami with her final breaths. And yet...

"Bambi, I..." Giselle was crying. "I love you. I mean it."

Bambietta looked down at Giselle's head... then shook her own. The Quincy closed her eyes and drew on the power of the Explode, allowing the raw energies to fill the space around her.

* * *

From afar, Rukia watched on in horror as the desolate farmhouse and its land was consumed in a sphere of destructive energy. The sound of the explosion was deafening. Then, at last, did it die down. The shinigami narrowed her eyes as she peered closer at the land.

There was nothing left. Nothing but a glassed over crater... and a lone woman hovering in the midst of it. Her wings and halo suddenly faded and she fell... and in the blink of an eye was Rukia there to kneel by her side.

"Didn't... think you'd be back..." Bambietta whispered. "But... thank you... from the bottom of my heart. But I need to be selfish for a minute and... ask for a favor. You need to... to destroy this body when I'm gone. Burn it to ash. That captain of yours... I don't... don't want to come back... again... Not like... that."

"I... I promise."

Rukia's expression wavered, the shinigami overcome with emotion for someone she barely knew. She who took the duty of the shinigami most serious of all. They were not meant to be thrill seekers who craved only battle. They were not meant to be cruel gods who lorded themselves over all those who they deemed beneath them. They were not meant to be beings who felt themselves capable of fighting evil with evil if it suited their needs. In her heart of hearts did she feel they were simply the guardians of those souls who were in need of protection from others or even themselves.

That as why her heart was breaking.

"You didn't have to do this."

"Didn't... listen, huh?" Bambietta chuckled weakly. She could feel her bod succumbing to death, an irony as she found herself beside it in its truest form. "B-Bad girls like me... we don't get a happy ending. That'd be... a true fairy tale. M-My friends are... one step ahead of me... in hell and I'm... I'm... going to be with them again. And that... doesn't sound so bad..."

"Don't say that! You shouldn't want to go to-"

"These last six...months have been... hell..." Bambietta wheezed. "So what's... the difference? If I continued on like I was, it would have been a never ending... hell anyway. I... I feared what my... own world had become. Hated it. But... I can escape it."

"You fool," Rukia whispered. "Why do you quincy always have to be so stubborn?"

"It's our... best feature..." Bambietta whispered with a exhausting smirk. "B-But... if I were to get a happy ending..."

Whether it was of her own heart's desires or her mind simply playing tricks on her in the moment of her passing, Bambietta felt herself drift into a brief fantasy. She was sitting on a couch in a disheveled home, glasses on her face and arms folded across her chest as she watched an action movie with the intensity she normally would have only experienced in battle. By her side were the others, Lil casually devouring a massive bucket of popcorn, Meni shocked at the violence on screen, Candi yelling at Gigi for paying no attention, too focused at taking a selfie.

"What a lucky woman... I'd be..."


End file.
